Humana Insurance Review

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Humana is one of the largest managed healthcare providers in the United States and currently employs over 50,000 people, worldwide. Their business programs are used by some of the largest companies in the US, as well as many small and medium sized firms.

The organization started in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The company first began as a nursing home named Extendicare, and became one of the largest nursing care facilities in the US. They began to purchase hospitals in the 70’s, changed their name to Humana, and grew as a healthcare provider.

Humana Insurance Products

As one of the largest healthcare providers in the country, Humana offers a wide selection of products for individuals as well as businesses. Just about any type of insurance product can be purchased through Humana. Individuals can get health insurance, dental coverage, vision protection, prescription plans, and Medicare supplement plans. Businesses can get their employees setup with most of the same, plus spending plans, disability coverage, life insurance, and wellness plans.

Ratings and Consumer Reviews

Humana Insurance has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 1998, and currently has an A+ rating. In the past three years there has been 376 complaints lodged against Humana, 85 of which have been closed in the past 12 months. This number is pretty typical for an insurance firm of their size. The majority of the problems reported were with the “products and services” offered by Humana, followed by billing and collection issues.

ConsumerAffairs.com offers 894 reviews on Humana. Of the reviews there has been 135 ratings left, 122 of them are one star ratings. Of the reviews left, many concern Humana’s poor customer service and others cite the company does everything to avoid paying claims. While these are not uncommon complaints against insurance companies, there are a lot of them for Humana.

Consumer Research Reports

Insure.com’s 2017 rating of Humana was a lot better than results from the J.D Power Study above. The website gave the company an A- rating overall giving them a 4.5 star out of 5 rating across the board. The categories listed included Claims Processing, Customer Service, and Value for Price. Humana came in fourth place overall in the Insure.com survey.

Financial Strength

Rating Company

Grade

Financial Outlook

AM Best

A-

Stable

Fitch

A

Stable

S&P

A

Stable

The Bottom Line

As with other large health providers, Humana is not without its issues in customer satisfaction. The modern healthcare industry pits patients vs. insurance companies and doctors stuck in the middle. It is no different with Humana. There are numerous reports of customers being denied services that a doctor has requested, as well as billing errors, and sudden premium increases.

Consumers interested in signing up with Humana should be very cautious and read all the details of their agreement. Notices sent in the mail should not be discarded, since there are reports of Humana burying rate increases in large annual reports sent out to customers.

Summary

Reviewer

Eric Stauffer

Review Date

2017-08-01

Reviewed

Humana

Author Rating

3

About Eric Stauffer

I am a former insurance agent and banker turned consumer advocate. My priority is to help educate individuals and families about the different types of insurance they need, and assist them in finding the best place to get it.

Reader Interactions

Comments

I had a dental procedure on 11/01/17 and Humana still hasn’t processed the claim. I’ve called numerous times, sent email messages through their website, etc., with no resolution. Talked with a supervisor today and he offered the same unsuccessful path to get it resolved, acknowledging that Humana dropped the ball. He refused to transfer me to his manager. Unprofessional and absolutely unacceptable service.

my mother passed away this year and she had Humana. They continued to call my dads house the whole time she was in the hospital asking for her, leaving messages even after she passed away they keep calling my poor dad. We were grieving and we did not appreciate it. Also, Because of the insurance, they would take forever to authorize pain meds. She was in a lot of pain and she was suffering. I had to ride the nurses and doctors [redacted]. It was total and udder bs. I am telling everyone about this [redacted] situation. Not a good company.

I would not do business with Humana Insurance Pharmacy. I pay my bill every 3rd of the month never ever been late. This month they withheld my prescription because they send a prescription late and it left a balance of $8.00 in my account. When I got the email saying they were holding my drugs I called them ( 2 hours on the phone) I had to give them my credit card so they can charge me the $8.00. The prescription still not here after 3 weeks. As soon as I can I will dump there [Redacted]

Humana is a total discusting rip off my husband had dental insurance for 6 months he got dentures after 5 months we decided to cancel in May.it did not end they are taking money out of my checking account every month .I have no idea how they got my banking information we did not give them any account information.they said we have to pay for a year,that was never told to us.I do not know how they can get away with this.I am totally discusted by this so called company. How can they get away with this?

new customer:I am so disappointed with and very upset. Big sales pitch, very nice staff until you need help. I was assigned a provider in my town when, I called to make an appointment the number on my card was no longer in service. I Found my provider working at the local family practice. Called to make an appointment for yearly physical and meet my provider. Received a large bill stating I needed a prior auth , for going out of network, when I met with my provider. Called to Humana not one person out of several gave me the same answer. I am still trying to get this frustration off my plate. Big mistake going with Humana. lesson learn research,research,research, !

I had the disability insurance. Paid 140.00 a month over a year. Time came when I needed them because I messed my spine up. I had to get my Dr to keep doing the paperwork. Nothing was good enough because they didn’t want to pay. I stop paying them immediately and got out. Run away from this company.

I have been trying for two years now to find a family doctor that will accept humana.

Ever since my regular doctor stopped accepting insurance from humana, I run an endless loop of calling offices that humana refers me to only to find out the doctor no longer is at that office or that office is not accepting new patients.

Humana Outsourcing all their call reps give misleading info and they haven’t processed a claims received 6 month ago with all information needed to process… Manager dont call you back and they never pay what they say… My Doctor office staffed told me NEVERT go with humana again… I called 1/5/16, 12/28/15, 2/8/2016, still my issue has not been resolved and my Doc office called over 10 times before getting me involve they refused to transfer me to the manage who made broken promise in getting me claim processed,… not a very organized company

My doctor ordered blood test for my conditions in August. I am on Medicare with Humana being the PPO. The whole bill was supposed to be paid for but Humana for some unexplainable reason denied my claim and only paid a very small portion of the bill. I’m going through a nightmare of getting this resolved if ever.
I had thought about complaining to the State of Indiana but cannot find the complaint process for Health Insurance. I’m 76 years old now and this has caused me much stress and high anxiety.

WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! I waited 20 minutes then was asked to select a prompt for my needs and there was not one for getting a quote. I hammered the “0” and I finally got someone who said she’d transfer me. I waited again and got an “official” agent who transferred me and disconnected me. Here I got a Capta image 3 times with no indication of what to click on

Ok, Humana Medical and Dental insurance has one of the worst web sites and customer service i have every experienced in a company. The updates on my customer portal regarding claims and billing are always incorrect.I would write a more extensive review, however i am exhausted due to the full time job i have keeping Humana straight. Seriously, if You want health issues due to stress then choose Humana as Your insurance provider. I however, am just getting off the merry-go-round and going with another provider. When I’m rested, i will write about the $14, 586.00 they just cost me in medical fees due to incorrect cancellation of my policy for a 1 month period…just happened to be the one month in my life that i had to take an ambulance to the hospital. Currently, going through a very comprehensive appeals process, while trying to stave off all the medical bills they didn’t cover, but more about that next time…

1-26-2015. My wife and I have had Humana Medicare Supplement Policies and I have Prescription Drug coverage since 1-1-2015. We have not used the supplement plans. I have always paid a month in advance. In Dec 2015 I was notified that both our Supplement plans were canceled due to premiums not being paid. Long story short, The premiums I sent in using the payment book and writing the Policy #’s on my check was all credited to my Presc Drug policy. They admitted fault in early Dec 2015. My Supplement Policy was re-instated on Jan 1 2016. I have called them 11-12 times and my wife’s policy shows to be paid up thru Feb 2016 but has not been re-instated. This morning I called and spoke with 2 different reps, then I asked to speak with whoever does the re-instating, was transferred, and about 10 minutes later was disconnected.

You mention that “The reality is the vast majority score very low on consumer reviews, which has more to do with the standard practices of the health care industry as a whole, and not necessarily the individual insurance companies”. Well, I beg to differ. I have had much less of a problem with my health care providers than Humana. Even my doctors routinely complain about Humana’s practices. My last experience on 3/25/2014 was when I received both an acceptance AND a denial letter for a medication that is covered on their formulary, yet more expensive than the previous one. All I ever get is first their denial letter demanding prior authorization (during a period that the last letter said it is covered), then their other denial letter citing my doctor has not met “Their” requirements. Stop being an apologist for the insurance companies. In my VAST experience with Humana, greed is their priority, not the BS you see in their commercials.

Humana, has lied so many times to me about my RX coverage. I have met my ppo 500.00 deductible and now it is 996.88. I had to resubmit all Rx claims 4 pages per Rx. I faxed them all in April 2014 and they are still denying any type coverage. I have a discount Rx card on file and am being told to use that until my deduct has been met. I smell a rat here with this company. They haven’t paid anything and my Insurance went into effect 02/01/2014. I haven’t went to a dr. as of yet because I don’t trust this coverage at all. I have paid out for coverage and all insurance payments. God help us all if I needed an ambulance.
This is as bad as the VA scandal.

I am frustrated trying to find insurance because of conflicting information. Your Humana article is not helpful. You give Humana a 4 out of 5 star at the top of your article (a very good rating), yet later within the article, we read:

“J,D, Power and Associates – In the six states that J.D. Power rated Humana, they scored near the bottom in overall customer experience in almost all of them. Most of the scores were two or three out of five, with one four rating coming from Ohio.”

We also see that:

“While it is typical for insurance companies to have low ratings on consumer websites, Humana has one of the lowest seen so far.”

We are also warned: “Consumers interested in signing up with Humana should be very cautious and read all the details of their agreement. Notices sent in the mail should not be discarded, since there are reports of Humana burying rate increases in large annual reports sent out to customers.”

Question: Did you bother to read your own review before rating Humana a 4/5 star company?

Unfortunately, we are currently in a period of time where nearly every health insurance company is seen as unfavorable in the public’s eyes. The reality is the vast majority score very low on consumer reviews, which has more to do with the standard practices of the health care industry as a whole, and not necessarily the individual insurance companies.

While it would be preferable to see companies provide good customer service and rise to the top, the current landscape is similar to that of the cable companies: there are usually only a few players in each market. This prevents competition and does not force companies to provide better service in order to compete.

The star rating for Humana is a relative score. That means in our opinion they are above average, even though the industry as a whole is not very good. If the scores were not relative, they would all score pretty low. It is kind of like politics. Often times all the candidates are bad, but you have to pick the best of the worst.

I am not sure what your current situation is, but if you have access to Kaiser Permanente or Group Health, check them out.

Humana is the worst. Their goal is to keep all patients in an Observation status when they go in the hospital, and more often than not deny inpatient status. It saves them lots of money, cost patients more out of pocket and costs doctors lots of time as they have to do a peer to peer with Humana physician to get approval for an inpatient stay. This is unique to Humana, I haven’t seen this happen with other providers. I steer everyone I know away from Humana.

Eric- Trying to filter through the insurance offerings under the ACA. I am a type one diabetic of 45 years and currently covered by COVERCOLORADO . I pay $680/mo and in 8 years have used it for nothing except quarterly doctor visits and 4 prescriptions via mail order. Access health gets the best reviews online but, are the most expensive, but only by about $100 over Rocky Mtn Health Plans and a couple of hundred over Humana. Both those companies get too many bad reviews for my liking , but compared to Access, I would not feel comfortable going with either of them at this point. I don’t mind paying for better insurance if that is what it takes to have no/few headaches. I have heard hugely different reviews of Kaiser, from many people that i trust. What do you think of all these issues?

Due to the sheer size of these health insurance companies, there are always going to be people that either fall through the cracks or get the short end of the stick. They just cannot make everyone happy when they all have millions of participants. That being said, the one name that repeatably sticks out for good customer service is Kaiser. This is not just my personal opinion, but what I see over and over when researching these insurance companies.

They consistently rank at or among the top in studies performed by Consumer Reports and JD Power, so there has to be something there. I personally had them for a brief while while I lived in California, and they seemed decent. Granted, I only used their services twice before switching to a different company. (I switched to get on a high-deductible plan so I could open an HSA.)

From what I have seen, Humana gets above average scores. I am not familiar with Rocky Mountain Health Plans, so I cannot comment on them. Access ranks pretty low in just about everything I have seen.